Multilateral development assistance
United Nations
Learning lessons from COVID-19 in Myanmar
Thaw Lay, a high school student from Yangon, the capital of Myanmar, knew that this school year would be unlike any other. “I was excited, but I also knew that things would be a little different, when school reopened later this year”, he recalls. Thaw Lay ...
Vietnamese minister calls for urgent joint actions to conserve biodiversity
Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Ha, on behalf of the Vietnamese Government, has called on countries to combine strength and coordinate actions in a more urgent, drastic and practical manner to protect biodiversity – a priceless natural resource. Ha made the appeal at ...
VNA
Indigenous activists clash with UN over proposed park
When farmer May Cho Win learned that a conservation project proposed by the U.N. Development Program in Myanmar would include the land she’s worked for over a decade, the 28-year-old wondered how she and her husband would be able to support their three children. “Without our ...
VICTORIA MILKO
Laos gets more funding to mitigate impact of COVID-19 on education
The Global Partnership for Education is allocating a grant of US$7 million via UNICEF to help respond to and mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s education in Laos. According to the UNICEF Laos Office, the grant agreement was signed on Thursday between Deputy ...
Times Reporters
COVID-19 opens a can of worms for fisherwomen in Cambodia
“I’m used to hearing the sound of laughter every morning as my customers come to buy fish,” says 37-year-old Huon Tim. “But it’s very quiet these days in the village.” For Huon, who runs a small fish and produce stall at the local market in Kampong Por, ...
Southern Myanmar’s indigenous groups say the UN should scrap $21 million conservation plan
Myanmar’s Tanintharyi Region is among the most vibrantly biodiverse places in Asia. The southern tail of kite-shaped Myanmar, Tanintharyi encompasses hundreds of islands in the Myeik Archipelago, mangrove-lined coast, evergreen forests and the mountainous spine that forms the Thai-Myanmar border. The region holds some of Southeast ...
Skylar Lindsay
Time to restore human relations with biodiversity
The Covid-19 pandemic is a deep and lasting shock at global level; we all know that returning to “business as usual” is not an option. It is imperative that we perceive the crisis as an opportunity to rebuild — and even improve — livelihoods in ...
QU DONGYU & INGER ANDERSEN
From drink bottles to tobacco sachets, UN study traces plastic pollution hot spots in the Mekong and Ganges
Municipal trash dumped at an open landfill in Thailand risks filling a nearby tributary of the Mekong river with plastic waste whenever it is rainy or windy. Along India’s Ganges river, small sachets that used to wrap chewing tobacco are abundant, but are difficult to collect ...
Tan Hui Yee
Myanmar army accused of new atrocities in attack on Rakhine village
Kyaw Thu* waited until night fell before taking his family to the bank of a river not far from their village. While millions across the world were told to remain at home to stay safe from the coronavirus pandemic, he and his neighbours were forced ...
Rebecca Ratcliffe, Emanuel Stoakes and Cape Diamond in Yangon
UN COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund Supports Laos
The United Nations will support the Lao Government’s preparedness and response to Covid-19 under the United Nations COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund with two UN projects approved under the Fund last week. The Fund was launched by the UN Secretary-General to support low- and middle-income countries overcome the ...
Laotian Times